Find A Way
by MissMusicalNerd
Summary: The story of Hairspray told through the eyes of Penny Lou Pingleton.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, so, Hi. This is my first fanfic. Ever. I've been reading them forever but I thought that I would try writing one. I don't know if it's any good but whatever. So this story is about Penny's thought's throughout the musical, hairspray (and I'm basing the Broadway musical) starting with her entrance in Nicest kids in town. Also I don't own Hairspray even though I wish I did. But don't we all. Ok I'll shut up now. Enjoy!**

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"Hurry, Penny, Hurry! The shows already started! Were gonna miss it."

The two teenagers rushed down the streets of Baltimore, one slightly ahead of the other, pulling the slower one along behind them.

Penny and Tracy had been best friends since they were three years old. Penny's Mother would always go to Tracy's mother's Laundry business, Edna's Occidental Laundry, sometimes bringing Penny along. Penny would always beg her mother to let her come along to see Tracy. Unfortunately, her mother just didn't like Tracy. "You can't talk to her." She would say. "She's a bad influence. Her mother lets her listen to _race_ music." She said it like it was disease. This _'race music'_ was none other than The Corny Collins Show. Tracy had been watching that show since forever. Actually, Penny couldn't remember a time when she wasn't watching The Corny Collins Show.

Which is why they are both rushing down the street, thirteen years later, going to watch it.

"I'm hurrying Tracy, but my mother says I'm not allowed to perspire." Penny complained, remembering her mother strict rules.

Tracy just turned around, rolled her eyes, and said "Come on!"

And then pair were rushing off again. Penny, being the clumsy person she is, tripped on the first step going up Tracy's apartment. _'jeez'_ She thought. _"I've been coming in and out of this apartment for thirteen years and I still can't remember there's a step there.'_

"you ok?" Tracy asked, not fazed by her tripping over the step again.

"Yeah I think s-" Penny was interrupted, once again, by Tracy, pulling her along.

"I'm home! Tracy Yelled as she burst inside, followed by Penny. Edna, Tracy's mother, was in the living room. She seemed to be dealing with a customer who, judging by the look on Edna's face, was unhappy about something. She didn't get a chance to turn around and see who the customer was before the Corny Collins Show theme song filled the room. And the second Penny heard it, she was up on her feet dancing along with Tracy.

Penny didn't consider herself the best dancer. In fact, she considered herself the worst dancer. Ever. But she still enjoyed just as long as she wasn't in public. "Four o' clock." Edna murmured. Guess I don't have to ask who got detention again. Penny glanced over at Tracy, who just rolled her eyes in the middle of a turn.

"Tracy Turnblad!" Edna exclaimed. "Where are your manners! Say hello to our guest."

"Hello, Mrs. Pingleton."

Mrs. Pingleton. Oh no. If Penny's mother was skeptical about if she was actually going to the library to study after school, she couldn't even imagine what would happen after this. She would never let her leave the house again.

"And you, Penny?" Oh yeah. She was too busy thinking about her punishment that she forgot to greet her own mother. Although she wasn't quite sure that was something she wanted to do at the moment. Still, she managed to squeak out a quiet "Hello Mrs. Pingleton."

Really? She was such a flop, she called her own mother 'Mrs. Pingleton.' She cleared her throat. "I mean…Mother." She managed to turn around and give her a guilty smile.

There was an awkward silence. Luckily, Edna ended the awkwardness "Teenagers. They just love watching that Corny Collins Show."

With that, she continued to dance along to the show. Her mother said something about race music or something but she decided to tune her out. She wanted to have fun. While she still could.

A couple of seconds later she heard the front door slam. She whipped her head around, only to find her mother no longer standing there. _'huh.'_ She thought _'Guess_ she'll _deal with me when I get home.'_

"R-r-r-r- roll call!" She looked back at the show. Corny, the host of the show, always seemed full of energy. There was literally not one day where he seemed off. Actually, now that she'd come to think of it, all the council members seemed to be on their A game Twenty-four seven.

"I'm Amber." The girls both rolled their eyes.

"Brad."

"Tammy."

"Fender."

"Brenda."

"Sketch."

"Shelly."

"I.Q"

"Lou Anne"

"and I'm… Link."

High pitched squeals filled the house. "Oh, Link! Kiss me again and again!" Ok so maybe Tracy had a little crush on Link. Or a huge one. "Could you turn that racquet down, I'm trying to iron in here!" Complied Edna. In response, she got more squealing.

The theme song ended and all the council members went into their ending pose. "Yeah!" beamed Corny. "And that was our dance of the week, the srtikin chicken! We'll be right back! The show then switched to a commercial for toothpaste. It wasn't long until Tracy pulled out her can of hairspray and started touching up her hair. Edna gave her look that Tracy saw, but chose to ignore. After that, she grabbed a magazine from the coffee table and sat on the floor with Penny, looking through it.

It was always fun for Penny to do this because her mother never allowed magazines in the house. She considered them a sin too. Before long, Corny's face was on the screen again and the girls sprang to their feet.

"Now don't forget guys and gidgets, our very first prime time spectacular is coming up on June 6th. We'll be live from Baltimore's brand new eventorium broadcasting nationwide! Talent scouts will be on hand from all the major record labels, and sponsoring the event will be our very own Ultra-Clutch Hairspray. So, lets give a big, fawning, Baltimore salute to the president of Ultra Clutch, Harriman F. Spritzer!" Everyone applauded as a short, old, very nervous man, walked onto the set.

"Ultra-Clutch is proud to bring you… f-fine youngsters to n-national attention." He said.

"Our big break!" The council members beamed. Spritzer ran off the set like he was running away from a pack of hungry wolves. A confused Corny added "Also on the special, we'll be crowning your choice for miss teenage hairspray!" " _my_ big break!" Amber said, taking the microphone away from Corny.

"Well isn't she a lovely, slim, girl." Said Edna, who was now half watching the show, half ironing the clothes.

Tracy shrugged "I guess amber's pretty, but she can't dance."

"Plastic little spastic!" Penny spat out as she crossed her arms. "Oh no!" Tract blurted out. "I'm gonna _kill_ myself!" Penny looked over at Tracy, confused. "Look! _"_ Tract said. "She's wearing link Larkin's council ring!" She collapsed on the couch, defeated.

Sure enough, when Penny looked back at the screen, there was Amber showing off Link's ring. Penny rolled her eyes and joined Tracy in the couch.

"Hey gang!" Amber said in a perky voice, reading a cue card. "Don't for get to watch mom and me on mother…" she was having trouble reading the card. "D-dogter day." Just as Corny was about to say something, Amber snatch the microphone right back. "And I wanna be your miss teenage hairspray, 1962. Remember, a vote for me from you is… a vote for me!"

"what an unexpected adlib amber." Said Corny, obioulst annoyed but trying to keep his cool. He snatched the mic back and shoved Amber into the group of teenagers behind her. "And speaking of expecting the unexpected, our own fun loving, freewheeling, Brenda will be taking a leave of absence."

A girl with black hair, up in a beehive, wearing a white dress with blue flowers, stepped out of the group.

"How long will you be gone, Brenda?

"She looked around, nervously. "Nine months."

Penny and Tract shared a look, but shrugged the statement off and turned their attention back to the show.

Corny broke the awkward silence. "So it looks like we'll have an opening for a girl who's just as fun loving, but maybe not quite as freewheeling. Wanna be one of the nicest kids in town. Cut school tomorrow and come down to station WZZT to audition.

Penny and Tracy's eye both grew the size of golf balls. "Oh my god! It's the dream of a lifetime! I have to go audition!" Said Tracy, jumping out of her seat. Penny jumped right up with her. "Oh my god! It's the dream of a lifetime! I have to go _watch_ you audition!"

The two jumped up and down excitedly. Their excitement was soon ruined by Edna walking over to the TV and turning it off. "That'll be enough of that for one day." She turned to the girls. "No one is auditioning for anything. They'll be no cutting school in this house."

Penny knew how important this was to Tracy and she was not about to let her.

"But Mrs. Turnblad- "

"Penny, go tell your mother she wants you."

Oh yeah. She had completely forgotten about her mother. She felt bad that she couldn't stay and beg Mrs. Turnblad to let Tracy audition, but she was sure Tracy would find a way. She always did.

"She does? I better hurry! Bye Mrs. Turnblad! Bye Tracy!"

And with that, she grabbed her backpack and ran out the door to face the wrath of her mother.

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 **And there's chapter one. So, yeah it was kind of long and kind of boring but I needed a chapter to set everything up. Also I apologize if that was really bad.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! So thanks for reading this story and for the reviews and stuff. So I'm going to try and have a new chapter up every week but kinda busy right now so no promises.(And I know it's been a little more than a week since I uploaded chapter one.) So, anyway, here's chapter two.**

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Penny was standing at the door to

her house, contemplating whether she should go in or not. Her mother would kill her for sure, but she couldn't just stand outside. So she finally but up the courage to go in.

When she got inside, she looked

into the kitchen to find her mother chopping up carrots, angerily. Penny tried to shut the door quietly, but apparently 'quietly' was too loud because, sure enough, Prudy set down her knife, and marched right over to her.

"Penny Lou Pingleton!" She screamed. "You are never leaving this house again, except for school and church!"

"But all I was doing was watch

Corny Collins over at Tracy's!" Penny defended herself. "Didn't I forbid you from listening to race music?"

And eye roll from Penny was what

sent Prudy over the edge. "If the police ever locate your father, he'll punish you good!"

' _Did she really just talk about father?'_ thought Penny.

Her father left when she was five. Him and Prudy had just had huge fight that ended with her father stomping up the stairs, throwing some random pieces of clothing into a duffle bag, and storming out of the house. Never to be seen again.

Penny thought, once he left, that things would finally be peaceful around her house. Boy, was she wrong.

"Mother, it's not race music. The show is segregated anyway!" Said Penny.

"Don't contradict me!" Prudy screamed in her face. "You are to never talk to that 'friend' of yours again!"

Penny couldn't believe her. Tracy's her best friend. There's no way Prudy was keeping her from talking to her.

"Mother, you can't do this!" She was almost screaming at the top of her lungs now.

"Oh, yes I can!" Prudy shot back. "You're not talking to her, Penny!"

"Please!" Penny pleaded. If she couldn't talk to Tracy she would literally have no friends.

"No!"

"Mother! Just stop telling me what to do!" and with that she pushed past Prudy and stomped up the stairs, just the way her father had all those years ago.

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 **Ok, so this one was way shorter than the last one but the next one will be a lot longer and hopefully less boring. Ok thanks for reading. Bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello. So, I'm really sorry I haven't updated this story in like forever. I've been super busy with my school play and homework and also, I'm in another show. But my school play is over and I got a crap ton of writing done during spring break. Anyway, here's chapter three. Enjoy!**

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Penny sat in her History class, taping her pencil on the desk. She wasn't paying attention at all. She was only worrying about skipping class the next period with Tracy so she could audition for the Corny Collins Show.

After another ten minutes of Penny being lost in her thoughts, the bell rang, making her jump. She quickly gathered her things and rushed out of the room and to her locker to put her books away. She slammed her locker shut and met up with Tracy at her locker.

"You ready?" Tracy asked. "Not really." Penny replied. "Penny!" Tracy complained. "I donno, Trace, I've never skipped class before. And if my mother finds out-" She was interrupted by the bell signaling their last period had started.

"Well it's too late to go back to class now, so come on!" Tracy said. She didn't give Penny any time to think before she was being dragged out of the building. After five minutes of panicked running, the girls were stopped by a bus, flipped over on its side, blocking the road.

"Are you kidding me!" Tracy practically screamed, making the small crowd gathered around the bus turn and look at her. "That's it!" She said as she handed Penny her bag, ran over to the bus, And started climbing it.

Penny noticed the horrified faces on the crowd and decided she should probably say something. "Tracy!" she yelled "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? You don't wanna be late to the audition, do you?" She said as she jumped down off the bus.

"Well, no but-"

"Then c'mon!"

"Tracy, I can't just-"

"Yes, you can!"

She finally gave in. "Fine!" She threw Tracy's bag over the bus to her then climbed on top of it and jumped off. The next thing she knew, she was being dragged away by a very panicked Tracy. Penny was going to lecture her about how she should not climb over crashed busses, but decided not to because she was already too out of breath and Tract didn't look like she was in the mood to be lectured.

Another minute of running of running passed and then they arrived at studio WYZZT and rushed inside. "Phew! I thought we'd never make it!" Said Tracy, "Stupid bus crash!" She added. Penny stared around the studio in amazement. "All my life, I imagined what this place would look like." She said. Then she suddenly god disappointed. "This isn't it." She said.

She looked around to see if she could recognize any of the council members. Not surprisingly, she recognized all of them. But then her eyes fell upon a specific council member. Link Larkin. She couldn't believe her eyes. Actual real-life Link Larkin. Not on a screen. He look even more perfect in real life than he did on TV.

"T-Tracy" She said, grabbing her friend's attention "Look!" She pointed to him "It's Link!" This caused Tracy to drop her bag, making a few people stare. "Link Larkin" Tracy said. "So near and yet so gorgeous!" Penny couldn't have said it better.

Then something truly unbelievable happened. He started walking toward them. Penny had to actually tell herself to keep breathing. Then, all of a sudden, Link walked right into Tracy. The girl's faces probably looked ridiculous, but they didn't care.

"Sorry lil' darlin'. Didn't meat to dent your do." He said, then gave Tracy one of his signature winks. Penny noticed that Tracy's face looked a little bit more ridiculous than hers. "Tracy? Are you alrignt?" she asked. "I can hear the bells." Tracy responded. Tracy said the most ridiculous things sometimes.

"I don't hear anything." Penny responded. Before Tracy could say anything back, Amber Von Tussle cut into the conversation.

"And what are you doing here?" She asked in a judgmental voice. "I'm Tracy Turnblad, and like you, I got to Patterson Park High." Shelly walked up by Amber. "I've see you." She said. "Who could miss her." They laughed

Tammy then walked up and joined them. "Aren't you usually in detention about now?" She stared down at Tracy. "Well, I cut school to come down here. Isn't that" she did a turn "too cool!" Tracy and Penny started cracking up until they noticed the Amber, Tammy, and Shelly's disgusted faces. "Sorry" Tracy said, "I assure you I'll calm down" she turned to penny "right after I have a heart attack!" The girls started laughing again. Tracy's eyes fell on her bag she had dropped on the floor.

"I brought my own forty fives so if ya out em' on ill show ya my stuff." She said picking her bag off the ground. "Haven't you already shown us enough." Amber said. Tammy and shelly laughed. Brenda and Lou Anne then joined Amber as well.

"I's always been a childhood dream to dance on this show." Tracy said, trying to change the subject. "Well maybe you ought to go back to sleep." Amber fired back. "Fire away girls!" Penny heard a voice from behind her call. She tried to turn around to see who it was, but she was shoved to the ground by Shelly. The girls were now circling Tracy.

"You're too wide from the back."

"Honey, look at her front!"

Then the voice she heard before revealed itself. It was Velma Von Tussle, the producer of the show. She walked past penny and joined the girls.

"Wait. Are we on candid camera? Ok, where is Allen Funt." She said. "Do you dance like you dress?" Amber said as she shoved Tracy. Link then came running over trying to break up the scene. "Girls, there's no need to be cruel. Velma asked one more question. "Would you swim in an integrated pool?" Now every single pair of eyes in the room were on Tracy.

"I sure would!" Tracy replied, trying to be as cheerful as possible. "I'm all for integration. It's the new frontier!" Everyone gasped in horror. "Not in Baltimore it isn't" Velma said "And may I be frank? First impressions can be tough, and when I saw you I knew it. If your size weren't enough, your last answer just blew it!" Tracy walked over to penny, defeated. She turned around to say something but she was cut off by Velma "you may go!" She said, disgusted. Penny heard some of the girls laugh as her and Tracy left the building.

Once the door shut behind them, Penny didn't know what to do or say. Her best friend's childhood dreams just got crushed. Penny was never really the type for comforting people, but she decided to give it a go. "I could tell they secretly liked you." She said. ' _Dang it! I'm such an idiot'_

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 **That's all for chapter three. I already have chapter four written and I;m in the middle of chapter five so, yeah. Thank you so much for reading!**


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